Sudden Death
by Eyeliner-Vampire
Summary: A year ago, the Flock was forced to leave Fang dying on the canyon floor. Now they meet a boy with a bullet wound in his chest, two ugly purple scars where his wings should be and no memory of how they got there. Can this really be Fang risen from the dead? Max will do anything to find out. FAX
1. Fang

Sudden Death

Chapter one

Oh, man. This is _not_ the best day I'd ever had. My arm is still bleeding a bit, even though I've been pressing on it for an hour.

Every time I jostle it, warm blood oozes out through my fingers.

"Don't move." Fang removes my hand and presses an old shirt on it, the black fabric quickly turning a sickly rust color.

Gross.

Still I try not to move.

"I still don't understand how you got shot-"

"I didn't get _shot._ I was shot _at_. There's a big difference, Ig." Luckily, the bullet just nicked my forearm. There's a lot of blood but no real damage. Ig shrugs. I try not to seethe as Fang adjusts the shirt to a better position. "It's mostly healed. Just give me a Band-Aid or something."

There's an uncomfortable knot in my chest, the kind that's usually followed by trouble. We need to move as soon as possible. Except, when I tell this to Fang, he just pushes me back down. "You've lost too much blood to fly right now. We can wait."

Gazzy helps Ig up, the two heading towards the lip of the cave. "We'll scout. Nothing will get past us, Max!"

I smile as much as I can as Fang finishes typing a makeshift tourniquet around my forearm. He hands me a bottle of water saying, "We will leave in the morning."

I know I made him my right-hand-man for a reason but I really didn't except to see Fang playing Leader so well. It warms my heart in a weird motherly, kid-on-the-run kind of way.

Nudge and Angel are sitting in the very back of the cave; I can just make out their sleeping forms. I sigh, resigned. If Fang thinks were safe, then we were probably safe. I trust him.

The sharp rock wall isn't the ideal sleeping arrangement but I somehow make it work.

Just as Fang takes off to join the boys, I let my eyes drift shut.

Ironically, it's not the feeling of impending doom that wakes me. It's not even Angel's blood curdling scream. It's the stench of wet dog that really gets my consciousness going.

Oh, and having my head bashed into the cave floor. Yeah, that might have helped.

I struggle under the weight of the Eraser, striking out with anything. He tries to hold me down but the blood still smeared over my arm is too slippery, and he loses his grip.

Finally, I get both arms free and clap them over his ears. He howls in pain, dropping to the ground beside me. Pain shoots up and down my arm and I'm sure it's bleeding again. But at least dog breath wasn't crushing my wings.

I spread them wide, sprinting toward the edge. "U and A!"

Even before I'm in the air, Nudge and Gazzy zoom past me. They're just blips in the sky before I'm following them off the cliff. Wind rushes past my ears and the adrenaline rushes through my veins. I watch the ground coming at me, too fast for any normal person to survive.

My wings break tension, snapping out of the slits in my shirt. The tell tale jerk makes my arm throb again but I thrust it to the back of my brain. Fight now, pain later. My wings hit the canyon floor on the down stroke but then I'm soaring back into the starless sky.

So much for a quiet night.

I angle myself up and hit the Eraser square in his chest. When his arms concave, and his eyes roll back into his head, I almost gag. He falls out of the sky like a sack of rocks.

Nudge and Gazzy tag team a large group while Angel directs Iggy around punches, mentally ripping the bots to shreds.

It only takes me a moment to find Fang, handing out punches like no tomorrow. I race towards him, hearing his fists colliding with the bone. Dropping beside him, I use my momentum to break an Erasers rib and then push it off balance. It totters for a second on the edge, and then falls like he's forgotten he had _wings_.

Now, only two more stood between us and freedom. Fang's panting, hands on his knees, watching the monsters from under his bangs.

I brush the hair out of my face and flash him a smile. "Dive-bomb?" I can almost swear he smiles when he nods.

On the count of three we rush the edge of the canyon, tuck in our wings, and jump.

Laughter bubbles in my chest. Fang is beside me, eyes closed, wind blowing his shaggy hair back. I reach for his hand, readying my wings. He seems to sense this and opens his eyes, brushing his fingertips with mine.

I grin. He winks.

And then his eyes go wide, staring at something over my shoulder. His back arches in the wrong direction, his hand slipping away from mine. I unfurl my wings like we practiced but Fang keeps falling, twisting around himself.

Oh no. I fling myself after him, grabbing his arm just before we hit the ground. The crack of bones is almost too much to bear.

Crack, crack, crack!

We come stumbling to a stop, rocks digging into my ribs. "Fang!" I call, voice raw. "_Fang_!" He's too still next to me, arm folded awkwardly behind him.

Crack, crack, crack!

The ground beside me explodes in a line right over my cafe. White pain spreads like fire through me. Those aren't the cracking of bones, I realize almost too late. Those are gun shots.

The pop, pop, pop! Is almost too clear now as I throw myself over Fang. Tears blur my vision but I can still see the dark red spreading over his shirt. The popping stops as I look up to see Iggy destroy a flyboy with his metal gun raised.

How could we not have noticed them?

_Fang. _

He's motionless, eyes still wide in surprise. Or maybe that was pain.

"Fang, wake up!" I smack his cheek red. He doesn't even blink. "_FANG!_"

I'm vaguely aware of Nudge landing beside me. She's saying something but I have my ear to Fang's chest listening for the faint beat of his heart.

Thump...thump...

"Oh my God, _Max_!" A hand is gripping my shoulder too tightly. I turn to Nudge who has tears streaking down her cheeks. She grabs my hand. "There are too many. _C'mon_!" She tries to pull me to my feet but I yank my hand away.

"I'm not leaving him!" But my hands are slipping off him, slick with blood. Despite my screaming Nudge has a vice grip on my waist. She's dragging me away with the help of Iggy. Wings thrusting hard, they lift me into the air.

My leg dangles uselessly under me as we climb higher and higher.

Away from Fang.

"No! I can't leave him. _Fang_!"

But I'm pretty sure he's already dead.


	2. Dead Texas Walker Ranger

Sudden Death

Chapter 2

It'd almost taken every minute of the two hours I had. The two hours I'd given the Flock to wander around the first mall we'd been to since last year.

It was a well needed break. Nothing's been the same since...

Well, since _him_.

"All right, you're done." He pulls away, placing the needle gun back onto its stand, and hands me a mirror. "You like it?"

I turn so I can see the reflection of my arm. Just below the curve of my shoulder is an image of a long black wing. It stretches across my bicep, shaded in until the only skin I can see spells out the word _Fang. _Under that in a small font, is the date 4.12.11.

Smiling, I hand him back the mirror. "It's perfect,"

The tattoo artist wraps a clear plastic around my arm and tapes it so it stays. "Wash it two times a day and keep it moisturized. Come back if you have any problems." He explains as I roll down my sleeve. It barely covers the blank ink but it'd have to do until I could buy some new clothes.

I thank him and hand him the fifty I'd taken from the account earlier.

The watch on my wrist tells me I have a minute to get to our predetermined meeting place. The food court is around the corner but even as I walk towards it I hear the loud banging of drums. A guitar joins in the noise and then a familiar voice rings out, singing:

"_A taste for blood,  
Won't hold them back,  
With nails that cut like razor.  
Hungry for flesh,  
See the undead hot on our trails they chase us.  
We need a place,  
Somewhere to hide,  
Where they won't think to go inside.  
Watch as your darkest fears return to life._"

I turn the corner, spotting Angel tugging Iggy towards the Center of the crowded room. I can just barely make out the bobbing heads of Nudge and Gazzy already submerged in the throng of people.

"_Don't bother sleeping without one eye open wide,  
There are creatures in the night to haunt you."_

A figure jumps onto the table. Tall and thin from where I can see, and wearing a jacket with the hood pulled over his eyes. Another one climbs up too, this one jamming on the guitar.

What's going on here? I make my way closer through the crowd, slipping through the gap Angel had made.

_Their arms are reaching out to hold you tight,  
Your demons come alive to chase you.  
ba ba ba badada da dadada, oh ahahah ah, ba da dada da ah,_"

Now I can see that one of the hooded boys is holding a microphone to his lips, the only part of his face that's visible.

"_Nowhere to run they're closing in on us,  
I can see the faces in the windows staring in at us._"

There's something jarring about his voice, even as he screams. It's almost like I'd heard it before. From the look on the Flocks faces, I'm not the only one who thinks so.

"_Don't bother sleeping without one eye open wide,  
There are creatures in the night to haunt you__.  
Their arms are reaching out to hold you tight,  
Your demons come alive to chase you._"

The gangly singer steps down from the table. The crowd parts slightly for him as he points back at his guitarist.

"_Jesse, you take the front door."_

Then he turns quickly and points to two strangers in the crowd.

_"Justin and Jack, you take the back,  
If anything comes in,  
You put a bullet in their fucking brains!"_

He steps closer to us, his voice making my head throb, but not in a bad way. I take a step forward trying to peer under his hood. Why wouldn't he let us see his face?

_"We're coming out of this alive,"_

He turns then and tilts his head enough that we make eye contact. My heart skips.

It can't be.

_"We won't become like them.  
We're leaving here tonight._

_We're leaving alive!_"

The boy climbs back onto the table, obviously not phased. He bends over the other side of the table and touches hands with a few blushing girls.

"_There's no way to stop,  
What has been done.  
You felt the bite now you'll be one,  
Don't tell your friends what you've become._"

I look over at the rest of the Flock. They watch the boys' slid over the table, transfixed. Iggy's swaying to the beat, a grin wrinkling his blue eyes.

"_You're not the same,  
Cause I can see it in your eyes.  
I can see it on your face,  
You're hoping for a taste._

_Do you feel your blood starting to boil within your skin?_"

The singer motions to his own body, bending at the waist towards the crowd.

"_Do you feel your stomach turning?  
You know that it's the end!_"

He tilts his head back, holding the microphone above him. And I watch as the hood falls to his shoulders.

It's him.

"_This is the end!_"

His hair is shorter; the bangs are gone but it's the same face. The same face I'd seen for 15 years of my life.

It's Fang.

But... how can he...? Is it possible that he'd been alive this whole time?

No. Tears blur my vision until I wipe them away angrily.

No. I saw him die. There is no way the boy standing on the table is Fang.

"_No turning back now you're under its spell,  
we have no choice, but to send your body back to hell._"

Then his eyes open, such a deep and familiar brown that all my doubts dissolve. There's no way it _isn't_ him. Or at least his undead twin.

Funny, how he's singing about Zombies and all.

"_Don't bother sleeping without one eye open wide,  
There are creatures in the night to haunt you."_

The guy playing guitar beside him suddenly jerks toward the door, messing up a few cords. Both 'Fang' and I follow his gaze to the opening of the food court where two lumbering police officers are shouting at them.

_"Their arms are reaching out to hold you tight,  
Your demons come alive to chase you._"

The drums fade into silence and the guitar's still, hanging by a strap over the boys shoulder. The two stand back to back, 'Fang's' breathe audible over the loud speaker.

"_Here they come!" _He screams into it. Back-up must have arrived because the two officers have turned into ten on either side of them. The small crowd that has gathered around us looks around nervously, some though, are smiling.

_"There's nowhere left to run._"

The police are carefully weaving through the crowd as if they were trapping rabid animals. One gently pushes Angel into my side in order to get closer to the table.

Fang and the guitarist are surrounded.

"Fuck," he drops the mic, letting it crash to the floor with a deafening squeal. In the same instant he's pulling up his hood so it once again covers his face.

One of the officers makes a grab for his ankles but he just slides out of the way. The guitarist jumps back into the crowd and disappears. Three officers peel off to hunt for him but the rest stay on the remaining boy. The Fang impersonator.

"We've got you this time," one of the officers say, clambering onto the table. 'Fang' takes a step back, narrowly avoiding another officers lunge.

For a moment he's cornered. But then the officer makes the mistake of taking another step forward and slips on the forgotten microphone. 'Fang' jumps over the cop, landing on the edge of the table and _diving_ into the crowd. Maybe it's just me, but he seems to float there for a second, hung in mid-air.

The crowd parts just in time as he hits the ground in a rolling tumble. A move we'd learned a very long time ago.

Maybe it is him.

I barely have time to think it before he's back on his feet, sprinting away.

I push through the crowd, the Flock hot on my heels. "Fang! Fang!" I can't let him get away, not again. I can't let him leave. How did he survive that bullet... it'd hit his heart, I'm sure of it. He should be dead.

But he's _not._ My heart cries.

I stay on him, calling his name but he doesn't turn once, skidding around another corner and out an emergency door. I burst through the door seconds after him, face to face with a raging motorcycle.

He swings a leg over the seat and kicks the stand up, a motion he'd obviously done a hundred times. The motor revs and then he's off, too fast for me to catch him.

On foot.

* * *

Song credit goes to _Sleeping With Sirens_ and their song _Dead Texas Walker Ranger_.

A big thank you to Elemental Dragon Slayer and Mythomagic-Champion for reviewing the first chapter a LONG time ago. I hope you're satisfied with this update.

To everyone else, it's been a while so review and tell me what you think.

Thanks for reading :)

-ELV


End file.
